Characterization of Forest Fires in the Mediterranean Area

Forest fires cause important economic losses and deaths every year, as well as deteriorating natural resources and increasing pollution. In order to reduce their effects we need rigorous analysis of the factors that cause them, and to develop tools that minimize their effects. In this paper, a land zoning of a Mediterranean area (Autonomous Region of Valencia) was carried out. We selected the main variables for the classification from the human and socioeconomic factors and the characteristics of the forest fires, and we classified the municipalities with homogeneous characteristics of incidence and causes of forest fires using multivariate techniques and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).